Showing posts with label Space Applications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Space Applications. Show all posts

LANDSAT-9: NASA's Latest Earth Observation Satellite In Orbit.




Landsat 9, a NASA satellite designed to monitor the Earth's land surface, successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:12 p.m. EDT Monday, 27th Sept., 2021. 




Landsat 9 was launched from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 3E on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as part of a cooperative mission with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). 






Around 83 minutes after launch, the Svalbard satellite-monitoring ground station in Norway received signals from the spacecraft. 



As it approaches its ultimate orbital height of 438 miles, Landsat 9 is operating as anticipated (705 kilometers). 





NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, "NASA utilizes the unique assets of our own unparalleled fleet, as well as the equipment of other countries, to study our own planet and its climatic systems." 


“Landsat 9 will take this historic and important worldwide initiative to the next level, with a 50-year data bank to build on. We are excited to collaborate with our colleagues at the USGS and the Department of the Interior on Landsat Next again, since we never stop striving to better understand our planet.” 


Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said, "Today's successful launch is a major milestone in the nearly 50-year joint partnership between USGS and NASA, who have partnered for decades to collect valuable scientific information and use that data to shape policy with the utmost scientific integrity." 





Landsat 9 will offer data and images to assist make science-based choices on critical problems such as: 


    1. water usage, 
    2. wildfire effects, 
    3. coral reef degradation, 
    4. glacier and ice-shelf retreat, 
    5. and tropical deforestation as the consequences of the climate crisis increase in the United States and across the world. 


In 1972, the first Landsat satellite was launched. 

Since then, NASA has maintained a Landsat satellite in orbit to gather pictures of the physical stuff that covers our planet's surface, as well as changes in land use. 


Researchers may use these pictures to track agricultural production, forest size and health, water quality, coral reef ecosystem health, and glacier movements, among other things. 

Karen St. Germain, head of NASA's Earth Science Division in Washington, stated, "The Landsat mission is unlike any other." 


“Landsat satellites have been orbiting our globe for almost 50 years, giving an unmatched record of how its surface has altered across timeframes ranging from days to decades. 

We've been able to offer continuous and timely data for customers ranging from farmers to resource managers and scientists because to our collaboration with the USGS. 

In a changing environment, this data may help us comprehend, forecast, and prepare for the future.”






In orbit, Landsat 9 joins its sister spacecraft, Landsat 8. 



Every eight days, the two satellites will work together to gather pictures covering the whole globe. 

“When it comes to monitoring our changing globe, Landsat 9 will be our new eyes in the sky,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's assistant administrator for science. 


By collaborating with other Landsat satellites and our European Space Agency colleagues who run the Sentintel-2 satellites, we're obtaining a more complete view of Earth than ever before. 

We'll get observations of every given location on our globe every two days thanks to these satellites cooperating in space. 

This is critical for monitoring things like crop growth and assisting decision-makers in monitoring Earth's general health and natural resources.” 




The sensors on board Landsat 9 – the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) – measure 11 wavelengths of light reflected or radiated off Earth's surface, including visible and non-visible wavelengths. 



These sensors will record sights over a 115-mile span as the satellite circles (185 kilometers). 


In these pictures, each pixel represents a 98-foot (30-meter) square, about the size of a baseball infield. 

Resource managers will be able to identify most agricultural fields in the United States at that resolution. 

“Launches are always thrilling, and today was no exception,” NASA Landsat 9 project scientist Jeff Masek said. 

“However, the greatest part for me as a scientist will be when the satellite begins providing the data that people have been waiting for, further cementing Landsat's legendary reputation among data users.”





The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, analyzes and stores data from the sensors, adding it to the five decades of Landsat data. 

Since its debut in 2008, Landsat pictures and associated data have received over 100 million downloads thanks to this strategy. 




The Landsat 9 mission is overseen by NASA. 




The TIRS-2 instrument was also developed and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

The mission was launched by NASA's Launch Services Program, which is headquartered at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

The mission will be operated by EROS, which will also handle the ground system and maintain the Landsat archive. 

The OLI-2 instrument was developed and tested by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. 

The launch of Landsat 9 will be carried out by United Launch Alliance. 

The Landsat 9 satellite was constructed, fitted with sensors, and tested by Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona. 




For additional information about Landsat 9, go to:


www.nasa.gov/landsat

www.usgs.gov/landsat



~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan


You may also want to read more about space based systems here.






Perseverance Collects Its First Martian Rock Sample





The rock core has been sealed in an airtight titanium sample container and will be accessible in the future. 




The first piece of Martian rock, a core from Jezero Crater little thicker than a pencil, was collected today by NASA's Perseverance rover. 



The historic milestone was verified by data obtained by mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. 

The core has been sealed in an airtight titanium sample container and will be retrievable in the future. 

NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing a series of future flights to return the rover's sample tubes back Earth for further analysis as part of the Mars Sample Return program. 



These samples would be the first time materials from another planet have been scientifically identified , chosen and returned to our world. 


NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated, "NASA has a history of establishing high objectives and then achieving them, demonstrating our nation's dedication to exploration and innovation." 

“This is a huge accomplishment, and I can't wait to see what Perseverance and our team come up with next.” 


Perseverance's mission includes studying the Jezero region to understand the geology and ancient habitability of the area, as well as characterizing the past climate, in addition to identifying and collecting samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) while searching for signs of ancient microscopic life. 


“This is really a momentous moment for all of NASA research,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, assistant administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 

“We will be doing the same with the samples Perseverance gathers as part of our Mars Sample Return program, much as the Apollo Moon missions showed the lasting scientific significance of returning samples from other planets for examination here on our planet. 

We anticipate jaw-dropping findings across a wide range of scientific disciplines, including investigation into the issue of whether life ever existed on Mars, using the most advanced science equipment on Earth.”




Perseverance Rover Sample Tubes from NASA. 









The rover's sample tubes, marvels of engineering, must be robust enough to securely transport Red Planet materials back to Earth in perfect shape. 




The tubes in NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover's belly are set to transport the first samples from another planet back to Earth in history. 

Future researchers will utilize these carefully chosen samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) to seek for evidence of possible microbial life on Mars in the past, as well as to address other important questions regarding the planet's history. 

On February 18, 2021, Perseverance will touch down at Mars' Jezero Crater. 




The 43 sample tubes heading to Mars, which are about the size and form of a typical lab test tube, must be lightweight and durable enough to withstand the rigors of the round journey, as well as clean enough that future scientists can be sure that what they're studying is 100 percent Mars. 

"When compared to Mars, Earth is brimming with signs of life," Ken Farley, a Mars 2020 project scientist at Caltech in Pasadena, said. 

"We wanted to get rid of those indications completely so that any residual evidence could be reliably identified and distinguished when the first samples were returned."



Engineered containers have been used to transport samples from other planets since Apollo 11. 


In 1969, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin brought back 47.7 pounds (21.8 kilograms) of samples from the Moon's Sea of Tranquility in two triple-sealed briefcase-size metal cases. 

The rock boxes on Apollo, on the other hand, only had to maintain their contents immaculate for approximately 10 days – from the lunar surface until splashdown – before being taken away to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. 

The scientific value of Perseverance's sample tubes must be isolated and preserved for more than ten years. 




Sample Return from Mars



Mission scientists will decide when and where NASA's newest rover will dig for samples as it explores Jezero Crater. 


The Sample Caching System, the most complex and most sophisticated device ever launched into space, will be used to package this valuable Martian cargo. 

After the samples have been placed on the Martian surface, NASA will complete the relay by launching two more missions in collaboration with ESA (the European Space Agency). 



The sample return campaign's second mission will dispatch a "fetch" rover to collect the hermetically sealed tubes and transfer them to a dedicated sample return container within the Mars Ascent Vehicle. 


If the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover stays healthy for the duration of the mission, it may transport tubes containing samples to the area of the Mars Ascent Vehicle. 

The tubes will subsequently be sent into orbit by the Mars Ascent Vehicle. 

The last mission will send an orbiter to Mars to meet the enclosed samples, collect them in a highly secure containment capsule, and return them to Earth (as early as 2031). 




Sturdy Containers




Each sample tube is made mostly of titanium and weighs less than 2 ounces (57 grams). 


After Perseverance places the tubes on Mars' surface, a white outer covering protects them from being heated by the Sun, which may change the chemical makeup of the samples. 

The crew will be able to identify the tubes and their contents thanks to laser-etched serial numbers on the outside. 



Each tube must fit within Perseverance's Sample Caching System's stringent constraints, as well as those of future missions. 


"We discovered almost 60 distinct measurements to examine despite the fact that they are less than 6 inches [15.2 cm] long," stated JPL Sample Tube Cognizant Engineer Pavlina Karafillis. 

"Because of the complexities of all the intricate processes they would travel through throughout the Mars Sample Return mission, the tube was considered unsuitable for flight if any measurement was off by approximately the thickness of a human hair." #Jezero is 100 percent pure.# Precision engineering is just one aspect of the task at hand. 





The tubes are also the result of stringent cleaning requirements. 



All of NASA's planetary missions use stringent procedures to avoid the entry of organic, inorganic, or biological material from Earth. 


However, since these tubes may contain evidence that life previously existed elsewhere in the cosmos, the Mars 2020 team needed to further minimize the chance that they could house Earthly artifacts that would obstruct the scientific process. 

Nothing should be in a tube until the Sample Caching System starts filling it with 9 cubic inches (147 cubic centimeters) of Jezero Crater, according to the directive (about the size of a piece of chalk). 


"And they meant it when they said 'nothing,'" Ian Clark, the mission's assistant project systems engineer for sample tube cleaning at JPL, said. 

"For example, we wanted to keep the total quantity of Earth-based organic molecules in a particular sample to fewer than 150 nanograms to accomplish the type of research the project is pursuing. 

We were restricted to fewer than 15 nanograms in a sample for a group of certain chemical components - ones that are highly suggestive of life." A billionth of a gram is referred to as a nanogram. 



A typical thumbprint contains approximately 45,000 nanograms of organics, which is about 300 times the maximum permitted in a sample tube. 


The crew had to rewrite the book on cleaning in order to satisfy the mission's strict requirements. 

"All of our assembly was done in a hyper-clean-room environment, which is really a clean room within a clean room," Clark said. 

"The sample tubes would be cleaned with filtered air blasts, washed with deionized water, and acoustically cleaned with acetone, isopropyl alcohol, and other exotic cleaning chemicals in the interim between assembly processes." The crew would test impurities and bake the tubes after each cleaning for good measure. 



Each of the 43 sample tubes chosen for flight from a field of 93 had produced almost 250 pages of paperwork and 3 terabytes of pictures and movies by the time they were chosen. 


Up to 38 of the tubes onboard Perseverance will be filled with Martian rock and regolith. 

The other five are "witness tubes," which have been filled with molecular and particle contaminants-capturing materials. 

They'll be opened one at a time on Mars, mainly at sample collection sites, to observe the ambient environment and record any Earthly impurities or pollutants from the spacecraft that may be present during sample collection. 

The return and analysis of the sample and witness tubes on Earth will enable the entire range of terrestrial scientific laboratory capabilities to examine the samples, utilizing equipment that are too big and complicated to transport to Mars. 




More Information about the Mission



Astrobiology, particularly the hunt for evidence of ancient microbial life, is a major goal of Perseverance's mission on Mars. 


The rover will study the planet's geology and climatic history, lay the path for human exploration of Mars, and be the first mission to gather and store Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). 

Following missions, which NASA is considering in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to retrieve these stored samples from the surface and return them to Earth for further study. 



The Mars 2020 mission is part of a broader program that includes lunar missions in order to prepare for human exploration of Mars. 


NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans are tasked with sending humans to the Moon by 2024 and establishing a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by 2028. 

The Perseverance rover was constructed and is operated by JPL, which is administered for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California.




The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which includes Artemis lunar missions to assist prepare for human exploration of Mars. 


The Perseverance rover was constructed and is operated by JPL, which is administered for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California. 



For additional information about Perseverance, go to: 

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 

nasa.gov/perseverance


Courtesy: NASA.gov




~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan


You may also want to read more about Space Missions and Systems here.




How Many Samples Will NASA' s Perseverance Rover Collect On Mars?



On August 6, NASA's Perseverance rover tried to drill into the Martian surface for the first time after six months of traveling on Mars. 



Everything seemed to proceed according to plan, but when the rover's operators examined the sample tube after it had been sealed and stowed within the rover, they discovered it to be empty. 


  • Jennifer Trosper, the Perseverance project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, "It went pretty well, other than the rock reacted in a manner that didn't enable us to collect any material in the tube." 
  • The mission's operators believe that when the rover bore into the rock to collect a sample, it disintegrated into a fine powder and spilled out of the tube, based on the data. 



Trosper adds, "We need a more cooperative kind of rock." 


  • “This one was crumbly — it may have had a firm surface on the outside, but as we went inside, all the grains simply fell apart.” 
  • This didn't happen during Earth-based testing of the sample equipment, and it hasn't happened with any of the previous Mars rovers. 
  • While the sampling tube cannot be unsealed and reused, researchers had requested a sample of Martian air, which is included in the sealed tube. 
  • Trosper explains, "We weren't aiming to capture the air sample, but it's not a waste of a tube." 



There are 43 sample tubes on Perseverance, so there are still lots of chances to gather Martian rocks. 


  • When it comes to future sample efforts with Perseverance, Trosper believes this failed endeavor isn't a reason for worry. 
  • The crew intends to utilize the scientific equipment aboard the rover to check that a sample was obtained before sealing the tube and stashing it within the rover for the next attempt, which is scheduled for early September.



During its two-year journey, the rover will gather approximately 40 samples. 

  • Perseverance will eventually store these samples on Mars' surface, where they will be picked up and returned to Earth by a later NASA mission. 
  • Returning the samples to Earth will enable scientists to examine them in much more depth than we can on Mars, particularly when looking for indications of previous life.



The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which includes Artemis lunar missions to assist prepare for human exploration of Mars. 


The Perseverance rover was constructed and is operated by JPL, which is administered for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California. 



For additional information about Perseverance, go to: 

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 

nasa.gov/perseverance


Courtesy: NASA.gov




~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan


You may also want to read more about Space Missions and Systems here.




How Does NASA's Perseverance Rover Take Selfies On Mars?



    The historic photo of the rover next to the Mars Helicopter turned out to be one of the most difficult rover selfies ever shot. 




    The procedure is explained in detail in this video, which also includes additional audio. 





    Have you ever wondered how rovers on Mars snap selfies? 


    NASA's Perseverance rover took the historic April 6, 2021, picture of itself alongside the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in color video. 

    The sound of the arm's motors spinning was recorded by the rover's entry, descend, and landing microphone as an added bonus. 


    Engineers may use selfies to evaluate the rover's wear and tear. They do, however, inspire a new generation of space aficionados: 


    • Many members of the rover crew may recall a favorite picture that first piqued their interest in NASA. 
    • Vandi Verma, Perseverance's lead engineer for robotic operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, stated, "I got into this when I saw a photo from Sojourner, NASA's first Mars rover." 
    • Verma served as a driver for the agency's Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, and she was involved in the first selfie taken by Curiosity on Oct. 31, 2012. 
    • “We had no idea when we snapped that first selfie that these would become so iconic and routine,” she added. 
    • The rover's robotic arm twists and maneuvers to capture the 62 pictures that make up the image, as shown on video from one of Perseverance's navigation cameras. 
    • What it doesn't show is how much effort went into creating the first selfie. Let's take a deeper look. 






    Teamwork. 


    Perseverance's selfie was made possible by a core group of approximately a dozen individuals, including rover drivers, JPL engineers who conducted tests, and camera operations engineers who created the camera sequence, analyzed the pictures, and stitched them together. 


    It took approximately a week to plan out all of the necessary individual instructions. 

    • Everyone was working on “Mars time,” which meant being up in the middle of the night and catching up on sleep throughout the day (a day on Mars is 37 minutes longer than on Earth). 
    • These members of the crew would occasionally forego sleep in order to complete the selfie. JPL collaborated with Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, which designed and operated the selfie camera. 




    The camera, dubbed WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), is intended for close-up detail pictures of rock textures rather than wide-angle images. 


    • Engineers had to order the rover to snap hundreds of separate pictures to create the selfie since each WATSON image only captures a tiny part of a scene. 
    • Mike Ravine, MSSS's Advanced Projects Manager, stated, "The thing that required the greatest care was putting Ingenuity into the proper position in the selfie." 

    “Considering how tiny it is, I think we did fairly well.” The MSSS image processing experts got to work as soon as the pictures from Mars arrived. 


    • They begin by removing any imperfections produced by dust that has collected on the light sensors of the camera. 
    • They next use software to combine the individual picture frames into a mosaic and smooth out the seams. 
    • Finally, an engineer warps and crops the mosaic to make it seem more like a standard camera picture that the general public is familiar with. 






    Simulations on a computer. 



    Perseverance, like the Curiosity rover (seen taking a selfie in this black-and-white video from March 2020), has a spinning turret at the end of its robotic arm. 


    • The WATSON camera, which remains focused on the rover during selfies while being tilted to record a portion of the landscape, is housed in the turret among other scientific equipment. 
    • The arm serves as a selfie stick in the final result, staying just out of frame. 
    • Perseverance is considerably more difficult to get to video its selfie stick in action than Curiosity. 
    • Perseverance's turret is 30 inches (75 centimeters) wide, compared to Curiosity's 22 inches (55 centimeters). 
    • That's the equivalent of waving a road bike wheel a few millimeters in front of Perseverance's mast, the rover's "head." 
    • JPL developed software to prevent the arm from colliding with the rover. 
    • The engineering team changes the arm trajectory every time a collision is detected in simulations on Earth; the procedure is repeated hundreds of times to ensure the arm motion is safe. 
    • The last instruction sequence brings the robotic arm as near to the rover's body as possible without touching it. 

    Other simulations are performed to verify that the Ingenuity helicopter is properly positioned in the final photo, or that the microphone can catch sound from the robotic arm's motors, for example. 





    Microphone Onboard




    Perseverance has a microphone in its SuperCam instrument in addition to its entrance, descent, and landing microphones. 


    • The microphones are a first for NASA's Mars mission, and audio will be a valuable new tool for rover engineers in the coming years. 
    • It may be used to give crucial information about whether something is functioning properly, among other things. 
    • Engineers used to have to make do with listening to a test rover on Earth. 


    “It's like your car: even if you're not a technician, you may hear an issue before you know there's a problem,” Verma said. 


    The humming engines sound strangely melodic when echoing through the rover's chassis, despite the fact that they haven't heard anything alarming thus yet. 





    More Information about the Mission. 



    • Astrobiology, particularly the hunt for evidence of ancient microbial life, is a major goal for Perseverance's mission on Mars. 
    • The rover will study the planet's geology and climatic history, lay the path for human exploration of Mars, and be the first mission to gather and store Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). 
    • Following NASA missions, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), spacecraft would be sent to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for further study. 


    The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which includes Artemis lunar missions to assist prepare for human exploration of Mars. 


    The Perseverance rover was constructed and is operated by JPL, which is administered for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California. 



    For additional information about Perseverance, go to: 

    mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 

    nasa.gov/perseverance


    Courtesy: NASA.gov


    ~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

    You may also want to read more about Space Missions and Systems here.



    What Is Artificial General Intelligence?

    Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is defined as the software representation of generalized human cognitive capacities that enables the ...